


How Sam Winchester Hooked Up With an Archangel

by SailorChibi



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angel Castiel, Angel Gabriel, Archangel Gabriel (Supernatural), Blow Jobs, Break Up, Canon-Typical Violence, Carrying, Cuddling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, FIx It, First Kiss, First Time, Flirting, Gabriel Has Issues, Gabriel is a Little Shit, Getting Back Together, Hand Jobs, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, M/M, Miscommunication, One Night Stand, Pre-Canon, Sam Misses Dean, Sam Winchester is a Saint, Stanford Era, angel grace, demon brady
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-10
Updated: 2015-11-10
Packaged: 2018-05-01 01:28:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5186996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorChibi/pseuds/SailorChibi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam went to Stanford to get away from hunting, but he wasn't expecting how lonely he'd be without his brother. Fortunately, what was supposed to be a one night stand with the sarcastic little shit he meets at a bar turns into something more. </p><p>This is the story of how an unsuspecting Sam Winchester, who ran away from his family to live a normal life, started dating the trickiest archangel of them all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How Sam Winchester Hooked Up With an Archangel

**Author's Note:**

> Sooooo this was meant to be my Sabriel Big Bang 2014. I got about halfway through and stopped writing. Since I missed the check in for this year's big bang even though I finally sat my butt down and finished it, I'm just going to go ahead and post it.

Having a staring contest with someone was hard work. Unless you had years of experience like Sam Winchester, in which case it wasn't very hard at all.

He smirked smugly as his roommate broke first. Brady swore under his breath as he turned away and rubbed his eyes viciously. "Jesus fuck man, how the hell do you do that? You're like a goddamn robot. I swear it's not possible for a human being to go that long without blinking."

Sam kept smirking as he blinked his eyes slowly, hoping to get a little moisture back. "Guy's gotta have his secrets. Have fun at the party." He twisted back around to his desk, looking down at the pile of books that waited for him. Not really the reward he wanted, but it would do. Behind him he heard Brady sigh, though his roommate didn't give in and just leave the way Sam hoped he would. No. Brady was far too stubborn for that.

"Sam, come on. We've been roommates for almost two years now and in all that time you have never once gone to a party. It's not healthy, dude, I'm telling you, your dick is gonna shrivel up and fall off. Your grades are top notch and I'm pretty sure you're miles ahead of where you need to be. You can afford to take one night off and have some fun. And besides, this girl I want to introduce you to is _smoking_ hot."

"Much as I appreciate your interest in my dick, I'll pass," Sam repeated for about the sixth time - or the twentieth time, if he counted how often he'd been saying it since Brady had come up with the idea in the first place. "If you think she's so hot, go out with her yourself."

"I've tried. She shot me down."

"So you thought you'd try to introduce her to someone better than you? That's suspiciously high minded of you."

Brady smacked him in the back of the head. "Smartass. Jess is a lady, I'll have you know. She's planning to become a nurse. A _hot nurse_ , Sam, who is probably just as much of a nerd as you."

"And yet, I still have to decline."

"Fine, I give up. For now." But, stubborn asshole that he was, he still stood there for a couple minutes like he was hoping Sam might still decide to change his mind. Finally, though, he muttered something less than flattering and strode out of Sam's bedroom and, a moment later, Sam heard the front door close too.

Peace settled over the apartment and Sam let out a long, slow sigh as he leaned back in his chair and rolled his shoulders to release the tension. He'd been telling Brady the truth. He wasn't interested in going to a party, not even to meet a cute girl - though he could only imagine how much Dean would rib him if he heard that. Parties just weren't Sam's thing. Too many people paired with too many engrained instincts about crowds plus alcohol did not mix very well.

No one had been stabbed at the one party he had attended back in Freshman year, but it was a near thing. The knife had been in his hand and inches away from its target before someone had accidentally bumped into him. After that, he'd sworn off parties, even if it did mean that Brady tormented him endlessly for not going to anything. Sam was used to that, though. In some ways, Brady reminded him a little bit of his brother. It was a comparison that Sam did his best not to pay attention to.

He worked on an essay for a little while longer, then finished off an outline that he'd be able to take to run by the teaching assistant next Monday. Once that was done, he tapped a pencil against his desk and stared at the stack of books still waiting for his attention. Nothing was urgent, Sam could tell that much just by glancing at the calendar pinned to the wall. Every time he got a new assignment he carefully added the date it was due, along with any other relevant information. His next essay wasn't due for another month.

That didn't mean he couldn't get a decent head start, of course. But he was beginning to feel a little restless. He still didn't think it was a good idea to go to that party, but the idea of staying cooped up in his dorm room for the rest of the night wasn't exactly appealing either. And there was one place where, without fail, a Winchester would feel comfortable. Sam got up and grabbed his jacket, slinging it on as he headed out.

It was still kind of cool out considering that it was the beginning of April in California, but it felt really good to be outside again. Sam tucked his hands into his pockets and whistled softly as he walked down the sidewalk. Stanford wasn't located too far away from the downtown area, and it didn't take him long to get there. He scanned the prospective bars for a few minutes, looking for one that wasn't too seedy or designed purely for the purposes of hooking up. 

One in particular caught his attention. It looked quieter than some of the other bars and there was a distinct lack of a line up out front. The title above the tinted windows read _Ground Zero_. There was a bouncer standing by the front door. Sam flashed his I.D. - one that finally had his actual date of birth on it, though admittedly it was made out to Sam Wesson, not Sam Winchester - and walked past.

 _Ground Zero_ , like most bars, had softer lighting to create atmosphere. There was a band playing and some people were dancing in the middle of the floor. Sam bypassed them for the bar, taking a seat on a vacant stool and requesting a cheap whiskey. The bartender, a curvaceous redhead with a sultry smile, set the glass down in front of him with a wink. He gave her a smile but didn't watch her move away, instead dropping his eyes to the amber liquid that he'd practically cut his teeth on.

Those were not the kinds of thoughts Sam wanted to be having tonight. Or any other night. But they'd been sneaking up on him more frequently lately. The buzz of being a normal kid had lasted through his first year and well into his second, but lately it was starting to wear on him more and more. He didn't miss his dad that much, but Dean... sometimes Sam just wanted to pick up the phone and talk to his big brother, make sure that Dean was still alive and not dead in a ditch somewhere.

But he also knew he couldn't. Not after how he'd left things between them, walking out pissed and hurting and done with hunting. 

He picked up the whiskey and tossed it back, relishing the burn that lingered afterwards. It wasn't nearly enough. He ordered a second and threw that back too, setting the glass down a little harder than he probably should have. His wallet wouldn't stretch for more than another round or two, and then only because he was usually frugal with money. Not nearly enough to get as drunk as Sam wanted to be. He played with the rim, trying to decide whether or not getting drunk off his ass was worth living on cheap ramen for the next month.

The whiskey that was set down in front of him made the decision for him. Sam stared at it for a moment, instantly noticing that it was of a much higher quality than what he'd just consumed. Slowly, he turned his gaze from the glass to the small hand that had put it there, then up the sleeve of the expensive leather jacket to the face of the guy standing right beside him.

"Hi," the guy said with a cocky smile. It was hard to tell, but in the weird lighting his eyes almost looked gold. He nudged the glass a bit closer to Sam. "Go ahead. Bottom's up, big boy."

"Are you trying to pick me up?" Sam said blankly. 

The guy started laughing. "Wow, you're straight to the point." He seemed to take that as an invitation, plopping his butt down on the stool right beside Sam. Somehow, he managed to squeeze in even closer so that there was barely an inch between their shoulders. 

"Are you?"

"Maybe. If you aren't a complete idiot like some of the people around here. I mean, for a college town some of these kids aren't that bright."

Sam narrowed his eyes a little, curious. The guy didn't look like he was that old, maybe late twenties. Early thirties at the absolute most, and he doubted that - he was a pretty decent judge of age. So it was weird to hear him talk about college students like they were decades younger than him. Feeling the need to defend his university if not his classmates, he said, "The pressure of exams can make anyone seem a little stupid."

"I wouldn't know, but I'll take your word for it." The guy tipped his drink in Sam's direction and waited. Sam hesitated for a split second, remembering the warnings that had been pounded into him about accepting drinks from strangers, before he picked up his own. He tipped it back and drank, gasping a little at the smooth taste and mellow burn. He felt it all the way down to the tips of his toes, a little stream of fire lighting him from the inside out. Definitely top quality, probably cost a fortune. 

"Sam," he said, figuring that he owed something as a thank you.

"Gabriel."

"As in the archangel?"

Gabriel cocked his head. His smile had too many teeth. "You know your angels?"

"A little." Sam shrugged one shoulder. It was a natural course of research when he was a kid, what with all the supernatural crap he'd had to absorb. He didn't know a whole lot about angels, though. Just that they didn't exist and that it pissed his father off to see Sam wasting his time reading about them when he was supposed to be researching actual dangers.

"You could say my family was religious," Gabriel said, beckoning to the waitress. "I've got an older brother named Lucifer."

"Ouch," Sam muttered.

"Yeah, he's not the friendliest person. Two beers, please," he added with a charming smile to their waitress, who produced two beers with the kind of speed Sam normally attributed to supernatural entities. Gabriel cracked them both open and slid one across the bar to Sam. 

Sam wasn't sure why, but he found himself volunteering, "I only have one brother. His name is Dean."

"Nice, normal names."

"Boring names. We were named after my grandparents, I think." He frowned, picking at the label on his bottle of beer. He wasn't even sure that was really true. He kind of remembered Dean telling him that once, but he was almost positive that Dean used to make up stories about their mom to keep Sam entertained. It was entirely possible Dean had made that up, too.

"No offence to you, Sammy, but I didn't come here tonight to talk about my family," Gabriel said, taking a long drink of his beer. Sam glanced at him, eyes automatically drawn to the long slope of Gabriel's throat as he swallowed. 

"I know. We already established you're here to pick me up."

Gabriel sputtered a laugh, nearly spitting a mouthful of beer onto the bar. Sam smirked and sampled his own beer, humming thoughtfully at the fruitier taste. He liked the way Gabriel laughed so freely, but it was like every time he laughed it was a surprise to him. It was cute. 

"What else do you do, other than trying to pick up strange college guys in bars?"

"I travel a lot," Gabriel said, carelessly wiping the back of his hand across his mouth. "I'm always trying to stay one step ahead of my family. I didn't want to go into the family business, and saying no one was happy about that is an understatement." He pointed his beer threateningly. "See, I just got done saying that I didn't want to talk about my family and here you are asking questions about them."

"I just asked what you do," Sam protested, a little regretful that Gabriel was so dead-set against those kinds of questions. For all Sam knew the 'family business' was nothing more than a plumbing business, but it still would've been nice to talk to someone else who'd escaped out from under a parent's thumb. Most of his classmates were here with the full support of their families.

"I'm boring. Let's talk about you. What do _you_ do? Besides hang out in bars waiting for suave, attractive men to pick you up."

Sam rolled his eyes. "That does take up most of my time, but every now and then I fit in a few minutes of studying. I'm trying to get my degree at Stanford so that I can apply to law school in a couple of years."

"What's your degree in?"

"Political science. It's not really a field that interested me that much, but I wasn't sure what to take and I figured that would look good to a law school." He shrugged one shoulder. "And I'm also doing a minor in psychology. My advisor suggested that I actually take something I wanted to, so... I might make it a secondary major later on if I've got the time for it."

"You're not sure?"

He shrugged. Part of him still felt like just being at Stanford was a novelty. He'd only just stopped expecting John to show up at any moment. "I work at this little café downtown, too. My scholarships don't cover everything. It doesn't leave me with a lot of free time."

Gabriel cleared his throat. "I'm guessing you live in the dorms, then."

"Yeah."

"I don't."

It sounded like an invitation and the way Gabriel leered afterwards confirmed it. Sam eyed his companion, taking in the weird smirk on Gabriel's face. He'd dated a couple of girls since he'd come to Stanford, but no one had ever really piqued his interest. Gabriel was cute though, and bold. He had the feeling that sex with Gabriel would be both fun and surprising, and God knew Sam could use a little more of both. Going back to his empty dorm room certainly wasn't the more appealing option here.

He made up his mind. "I'd like to see your place."

"Really?" Gabriel grinned, doing a decent job of hiding his shock by sliding off the stool immediately. He tugged at Sam's arm like an eager little kid until Sam stood up too, figuring that it was worth abandoning his beer if it meant a different kind of distraction. 

After tossing a couple of bills down on the bar, Gabriel towed him towards the door. The crowd parted around them like the Red Sea, possibly sensing that Gabriel was a man on a mission and not to be deterred. Sam found himself laughing as they stumbled outside, maybe because the buzz was finally starting to kick in or maybe because this was such a departure from the norm for him; it was a rush to be doing something that a lot of people considered foolhardy. Going home with a stranger wasn't exactly in the student handbook.

As though leaving the bar behind had knocked down a few of Sam's expertly built walls, he realized that he had started to ramble as they walked down the street together. The words flowed out of his mouth, idle chatter about his job, the paper he'd just finished two days ago that he was really proud of, how much of an asshole one of his professors was, even how much it annoyed him when Brady wouldn't stop asking him to go to parties.

Even more surprisingly, Gabriel was mostly silent through it all with a cocked head and an expression that suggested he was really _listening_ , like he was absorbing each word and tucking them carefully away for future consideration. It was almost unnerving and when it got to the point of being just this side of weird, Sam decided to do something about it. He pivoted unexpectedly, catching Gabriel's slender shoulders and hauling him up for a kiss.

Gabriel made a startled, soft sound, though not displeased, and wound his arms around Sam's shoulders. His fingers slid into Sam's hair and Sam liked it. Liked this. He'd never kissed a guy before, never even dared to investigate that territory with John Winchester hovering around in the background, and he wasn't sure he would like it, but it was turning him on fast. Gabriel was smaller than him, like a girl, but there was a lot of strength in the fingers that were pulling ruthlessly at Sam's hair. He broke the kiss with a gasp of pain.

"You're violent," he said breathlessly.

"You ain't seen nothing yet," Gabriel said, mouth curled into an indecent smirk. His lips were a little swollen even from that brief make-out session and Sam swallowed, wanting - no, needing more with a sudden surge of lust that left him reeling in its intensity.

"Please tell me your place is close," he rasped.

"We're only a couple of blocks away."

It was too far and Sam groaned. Gabriel chuckled and started walking again, leaving Sam to catch up. He didn't even mind because it meant he got to look his fill of tight jeans and the pert little ass the material was molded to. 

The building Gabriel lived in was pretty expensive. Sam could tell that much just at from a glance at marble floors, but that was pretty much all he got. The second the elevator doors swished gently shut, he was being slammed against the wall. Gabriel pressed in close and Sam had just enough time to notice the tension in his body and understand what it meant before Gabriel was jumping and hooking his legs around Sam's waist.

"Jesus," Sam gasped, fumbling to grab at Gabriel's thighs before he fell.

"I prefer Gabriel." Gabriel grabbed his hair - again with the hair, did the guy have a fetish? - and yanked him into a positively filthy kiss that left Sam's toes curling with pleasure. It didn't last nearly long enough, the elevator coming to a stop, and he was reminded that there were far more comfortable places just a few feet away.

"Let's continue this somewhere horizontal," he urged between frantic kisses.

"You've gotta put me down first."

Sam blinked at him and then smirked, slowly squeezing the flesh of Gabriel's thighs. They were very nice thighs, lightly muscled and firm. "Why?"

"Key's in my pocket, Sammy -" Gabriel's voice ran up the line into a breathy squeak when Sam shifted, pinning him in place with one arm while he plunged his free hand into Gabriel's pocket. He relished the look of shock as he felt around like he couldn't find the key - when in reality, the ridged metal was cutting up his knuckles as he copped a feel of Gabriel's dick.

"You mean this key?" he asked, all innocence as he pulled it out. He dropped it into Gabriel's hand and hefted him up, striding out of the elevator. For all that he didn't really look it, Gabriel was kind of heavy and Sam had let his training go a little bit over the past year and a half. 

"Fuck yeah, I'm definitely keeping you," Gabriel breathed, and if he'd looked hungry before the look in his eyes was downright starving right now. "Number's 507."

Sam hoped that Gabriel couldn't feel the way his heart hammered at those words, which he knew perfectly well were only meant as a joke. This was a one night stand and in the morning he and Gabriel would go their separate ways. He wasn’t usually the kind of person who did that and now he was remembering why, because as Gabriel fumbled the door open and they walked into his condo, his lust was briefly tempered by curiosity. The walls were so _bare_ , the appliances clearly expensive but rarely used, and there was nothing to suggest any life to the place at all.

He had to bite his tongue to keep from asking questions that would reveal more detail, like if Gabriel ever stuck around at all or if this was just a layover on the way to the next exotic destination. At least it led credence to his travelling story, because this did not look like the home of anyone. If Sam hadn’t known better, he would’ve thought Gabriel had picked at random, uninhabited condo and claimed it as his own for the night.

Fortunately Gabriel was proving to be an excellent distraction. His tongue was traveling greedily across Sam’s neck as Sam stumbled into the bedroom. He tried to drop the little tease on the bed, planning to give him a lesson in why teasing was cruel, but Gabriel grabbed onto his shoulders and dragged Sam down with him. Sam hit the bed and bounced once, and before he knew it Gabriel had flipped them so that he was kneeling astride Sam’s thighs. 

“Mmm,” he purred, shoving at the hem of Sam’s shirt until Sam obligingly raised his shoulders so that it could be pulled off all the way. “It’s been a while since I had anyone like you, kiddo.”

“You’ve never had anyone like me,” Sam said impulsively.

Gabriel smirked. “Put your money where your mouth is,” he taunted.

The zipper on his jeans dug into Sam’s fingers, he yanked it down so fast. He shoved his jeans and boxers down until his dick sprang free. Gabriel’s eyes widened a little and then a furious grin broke out over his face. He stood up, balancing easily on the mattress, and started stripping then and there. Sam watched, amazed, as little by little inches of soft, supple tanned skin was revealed to him. 

“Oh god,” he breathed, his cock aching now with how much he wanted Gabriel. It didn’t matter how: hand, mouth, ass – it would’ve been enough to just be able to look while he took care of himself. He started to reach for his cock and Gabriel actually growled, his cheerful expression vanishing.

"Don't touch that, it's mine."

"You sound like a whining child," Sam pointed out, figuring he'd take the risk. He wrapped his fingers around his dick anyway, unable to keep quiet at how good the friction felt. It seemed like he'd been pent-up for months, just waiting for the right moment to release. And now it was here and he could barely wait. He let himself moan quietly, liking the way it made Gabriel's eyes dilate, slowly jacking himself off.

"And you don't listen," said Gabriel, though he sounded more amused than anything. In one graceful move that was way hotter than it had any right to be, he slithered to his knees and peered up at Sam through his eyelashes. "If you're not careful, I really am going to want to keep you, kiddo."

"Maybe I'd let you," Sam replied as confidently as he could, hoping that the way his heart had flipped over at those words wasn't readily visible. This was why he didn't do one night stands, because he got attached too fast. But if Gabriel was the one who decided to go that far, well. That was entirely different and from what he'd seen so far, Sam was 100% on board with it.

Gabriel's eyes darkened and he lifted himself up, knocking Sam's hand away with ease. He leaned down, breathing heavily over the head of Sam's dick, and then licked his lips. Watching that pink tongue tracing those full lips was pure torture. Sam moaned at having his hand pushed away a second time. He gripped the sheets in frustration, fighting the urge to buck up until Gabriel's mouth _had_ to open to him.

"Father, you're too good for me," he thought he heard Gabriel mutter, but then his world was dissolving into _heat_ and _wet_ so it was pretty hard to tell. 

Sam shouted unintelligibly as Gabriel deep throated him effortlessly, swallowing around his cock like it was the size of a pencil. The soft flutter of those tight throat muscles around the shaft of his dick was almost too much to bear. No one had ever done this for him before, and now Sam knew why: it was too good, too much, and if Gabriel didn't stop he was going to blow his load in roughly the next ten seconds. 

"Gabriel, stop, m'gonna," he tried to beg, though it was entirely possible the words came out as slurred and/or incoherent. He clutched at the sheets even tighter as he was yanked over that threshold, his entire body spasming under the effects of Gabriel's clever mouth. 

Gabriel purred around him, drinking down every ounce, and then pulled off inch by agonizing inch and spent several minutes licking Sam clean, until Sam had to reach down and push him away. Undeterred, Gabriel looked up at him and smiled coyly. "You taste good," he said, not even the slightest bit out of breath.

"You're insane," Sam said breathlessly.

"Mmm, close." Gabriel crawled up the sheets and straddled him. His cock was still hard and drooling, a thin line of pre-come falling to pool on Sam's belly. "You gonna help a man out?"

It only took a couple of pumps of Sam's hand before Gabriel was coming too, thin white splatters all over Sam's chest and hand. Fuck but he was gorgeous when he was coming, though, his hair all messy and his mouth swollen and just as fuckable as before. His face was twisted up in the kind of pleasure that sometimes Sam thought he could only dream about, and he gripped Sam's wrist so hard it hurt, like he thought that Sam might pull his hand away. 

Sam's head felt blissfully empty for the first time in months, maybe even years. He wanted to roll over and pass out, but he knew that wasn't the etiquette of one night stands. So he sat up, trying to remember where his shirt had ended up. At least his jeans were easily found: he'd never actually got them all the way off, so they were still hooked around his thighs. Uncomfortably, too. 

"Where are you going?" Gabriel demanded.

"Uh, home?"

"No, you're not."

"I'm... not going home?"

"No." With surprising strength Gabriel dragged him back down, pinning him in place as he shoved Sam's jeans off the rest of the way. Then he plastered himself against Sam's body with a possessive huff. "You, sleep. Now."

It was a lot easier to give in than to argue.

And that's how it started.

That's how Sam Winchester hooked up with an archangel.

Of course, he didn't know Gabriel was an archangel at the time. If he had, he would've been a lot less inclined to have sex with him. After all, the whole reason Sam went to Stanford was to get away from hunting and the supernatural. He wanted to have a normal life. Dating an archangel was kind of undermining that whole endeavor, even if Gabriel was super hot and the kinkiest motherfucker to ever walk the Earth - not to mention possessive, because it turned out that Gabriel wasn't all that great at one night stands either.

For two months, Sam had the normal life he'd always dreamt about, only this time it came with something his fantasies hadn't included: a smoking hot, sweet, sarcastic little shit of a boyfriend. The only sour spot was his roommate. A couple weeks later, when Sam brought Gabriel back to the dorm for the first time to introduce him, Brady turned out to be a homophobic dick. Less than two minutes after Gabriel walked in the door, Brady shoved a bunch of clothing into his suitcase and stormed out. He didn't come back.

It bothered Sam a lot. But it turned out that Gabriel's mouth was an _excellent_ distraction. It helped that when some of Brady's friends came looking for him, a couple stuck around. Sam was thoroughly enjoying having friends that he didn't have to hide secrets from. It figured that just when his life was going well, it all came crashing down around him.

Right before exams started, Sam made the fateful comment that brought his nice, normal life to a screeching halt. He was sitting on the couch in Gabriel's apartment, which had gradually lost the empty look after Gabriel encouraged him to decorate as he liked, and flipping through the channels when Gabriel leaned over and grabbed the remote out of his hand. Sam raised an eyebrow as his boyfriend switched the channel back.

To Dr. Sexy.

His heart did something weird as Dr. Sexy was slapped across the face by an attractive female nurse. Gabriel snorted a laugh next to him, but Sam couldn't even muster a smile. For as long as he could remember, his brother had harbored a supposedly secret crush on Dr. Sexy. It was impossible to watch the show and _not_ think about Dean - whether he was still hunting, if he was okay, was he even still alive?

"What's up, kiddo?" Gabriel said, muting the volume.

"What?"

"I realize this isn't up to your normal intellectual channels, but usually you like ogling hot guys with me. Right now I think I could be dancing around naked and you wouldn't notice, which I personally find a little offensive, fyi."

Sam smiled automatically. "It's nothing."

"Wrong. Want to try again?" There was actual concern in Gabriel's face, and before he could stop himself the five fateful words just spilled out.

"I'm worried about my brother."

"Your brother?" Gabriel repeated, surprised. 

"Yeah. He and my dad... they do some dangerous stuff for work." Sam pulled his knees up against his chest, needing something to hold onto. "It's actually why I took off. I didn't want to do it anymore. I wanted to go to Stanford. My dad and I had a pretty bad fight about it. He wanted to keep me in the family business. So I walked out. I haven't spoken to Dean since then." He toyed with the sleeve of his shirt. 

"You never tried to call him?"

He shrugged, not wanting to admit that he hadn't. That he'd ignored the calls from all out of state numbers, at first familiar and then random. All of them unquestionably Dean. After about six months, the calls had tapered off. It was both a relief and a disappointment to know that Dean had given up trying to contact him.

Gabriel's hand appeared in his line of sight, stilling the nervous movement of Sam's hand. Softly, he said, "I can get my brother to check on him if you want. Seriously, Dean won't even know that he's there."

"I thought you hated your brother?"

"I've got more than one," Gabriel said with a smirk. It faded quickly into something serious as he squeezed Sam's arm. "Just think about it. I hate that there's something bothering you, Sammy."

The nickname, intentional or not, clinched it. "Do it."

"Yeah?"

Sam nodded, his throat tight, and let Gabriel gather him into a hug. He tucked his face into Gabriel's throat, breathing in the scent of the ridiculous chocolate cologne that Gabriel favored, and didn't look up even when he felt Gabriel shifting around, presumably pulling out his phone. A minute later, the word, "Done" was breathed into his hair and, for what seemed like the first time in close to two years, he felt all of the tension seep out of his body.

"Thanks," he mumbled.

"No problem, baby."

As much as the endearment made him blush, Sam fell asleep with a smile on his face. Even waking up an hour late the next morning because he'd forgotten to set his phone didn't deter him from his good mood. He wouldn't have been willing to admit it, but he spent most of the day sneaking peeks at his phone just in case it rang with an unfamiliar phone number. Not that he was really expecting it to. It wasn't like Gabriel's brother was going to give Dean his number. But he was kind of hoping that Gabriel's brother would've been close to give Gabriel an update immediately, and that Gabriel in turn would call him right away. No such luck.

Three days later, he was sitting outside eating lunch with Jess and trying to pay attention to his book. Exams weren't that far off, and he was starting to get a little worried about how he would do. He'd done pretty good in his first year, but that was before he'd met Gabriel. It wasn't like he had stopped studying, but he definitely spent more time on the couch with his boyfriend than he did hitting the books. And if his grades slipped too far, he would risk losing his scholarship - and without that, he couldn't afford to stay at Stanford.

Jess, on the other hand, thought he was working too hard. For the fifth time, she dropped her feet in his lap and nudged the spine of his book with her big toe. "C'mon, Sam. Put it away and eat your lunch already."

"Exams are -"

"Still two whole weeks away and you have already studied more than three of your classmates put together," Jess replied. She was lying on her back braiding dandelions into a chain. "Look, I'm not a nurse yet. So if you give yourself a heart attack, I'm not medically qualified to save your life."

"I'm not gonna have a heart attack."

"Yeah? When was the last time I saw you without a book in your hand? When was the last time you actually had a good night's sleep, or had a meal that Gabriel didn't have to force down your throat?" Jess said skeptically.

Sam started to respond and then paused, realizing that he didn't have an answer. With a resigned sigh, he tossed the book down on the ground and ignored her wiggle of satisfaction. Though it was hard to keep from smiling when she dug her toes into his ribs and tickled him a little. He swatted her on the foot and grabbed his previously untouched sandwich. It was just peanut butter and banana, but somehow it always tasted better when Gabriel made them. He took a huge bite just as his phone rang, and he grabbed it without thinking.

"Hweoo?" he mumbled.

"Sammy?"

He choked on his mouthful of bread, spitting it out on the ground. Jess shot up and pounded him on the back.

"Sammy, is that you?"

Ducking the next blow, Sam grabbed his water bottle and swallowed a couple mouthfuls. Then he wheezed out, "Dean?"

"Dude, I thought you went to school to be _normal_. The hell did you get yourself mixed up into?"

Sam blinked and swallowed a little more water. If this was his brother, then he had no idea what Dean was talking about. "How do I know you're really my brother?" he asked, waving off Jess's concerned look. He stood up and walked a little bit away so that she wouldn't be able to hear his conversation.

Dean's sigh was audible. "When you were five years old, you had a girlfriend named Lacey. You kissed her behind the monkey bars and the teacher called Dad and said you were sexually harassing a four year old."

" _She_ kissed _me_ ," Sam said defensively.

"Sure she did. What the fuck is going on, Sam? Angels? Really? Out of all the supernatural bullshit you had to go and be a part of, you had to go with _angels_? I didn't even know you liked guys, never mind a different species!"

No part of that made sense. This was not how Sam had imagined his first conversation with his brother in almost two years would go. "Man, have you been hit in the head recently?"

"No!" Dean practically shouted. "My hunt was going perfectly fine - fuck off, Cas, _it was fine_ \- when this dude shows up out of the middle of nowhere and uses this weird white light to smite the shit out of the crocotta I was hunting. Next thing I know, I'm being told that my baby brother is dating an angel who happens to be occupying a male vessel! What the hell is going on, Sam? Are you really dating an angel? How did you even _meet_ angel?"

"I'm not dating an angel," Sam said dumbly. Evidently Gabriel's brother wasn't nearly as sneaky as Gabriel thought he would be. 

"According to Cas, you are."

"Wait, who the hell is Cas?"

"Hello, Sam." 

The voice was much deeper and more gravelly than Sam was expecting. He cleared his throat, just barely catching Dean's yelps of protests in the background. "Uh, hi."

"My name is Castiel. I am an angel of the lord. My brother, Gabriel, asked me to check up on your brother. He asked me to be subtle, but the crocotta was about to cut your brother in half. I felt it best that I intervene."

"Yeah, um, thanks?" This was information overload. Sam put a hand to his head. "Look, I, uh, I need to talk to Gabriel. Tell Dean he can call me later." He hit the button to end the call before Castiel had the chance to respond. Then he just stood there for a minute, his brain struggling to process this, but it just wasn't working.

"Sam, what's wrong?" Jess said, looking worried.

"Nothing. I just - I gotta go. I'll call you later." He hated to leave her there without explanation, but what could he say? He forced a smile, packed his shit together and took off, winding his way back across the park. There were so many other students around, and they all looked so happy that for a moment Sam resented them. It seemed like whenever he thought he'd found a little bit of that happiness for himself, it was always pulled out from underneath him. Case in point: he was apparently dating an angel and hadn't even known it. 

It was probably the fastest he'd ever made it back to the apartment from campus, and he had to stop and catch his breath before he could actually walk in. Gabriel was already there, sprawled across the couch and watching the television. He looked up in surprise but smiled, and Sam hated the way his traitorous heart skipped a beat at the sight of that smile. He didn't smile back, and very quickly Gabriel caught on to the fact that something was wrong. He sat up, muting the TV.

"Sammy, what's wrong?"

"Are you an angel?" Sam demanded. He hadn't really intended for it to come out so abruptly, but hearing that nickname so soon after Dean had said it - he couldn't help it.

Both of Gabriel's eyebrows shot up. "Well, I can be if you want me to. I haven't got any Halloween costumes lying around, but I'm sure the costume shop is still open. It depends, though. Do you want me to be a good little angel or a naughty angel?" He leered, licking his lips slowly.

"No. I mean - are you, you're like, an actual angel. Wings, robe, halo, the whole nine yards. Dean - Castiel called me. He said - are you?" He might have been shouting a little bit by the end.

Gabriel definitely wasn't smiling anymore. "Sam -"

"Oh my god," Sam said, reading the truth in Gabriel's face. "You are. You're a fucking angel!"

"Just calm down, okay? And hear me out. Please don't go away angry," Gabriel said, very slowly sliding off the couch and standing up. He held his hands out beseechingly. "I didn't want you to find out like this. I was going to tell you. I _wanted_ to tell you. But I wasn't sure how you would react. You were so negative towards anything supernatural, Sam. I didn't want you to hate me. I love you."

"No. You don't get to say that to me now," Sam said, pointing a shaking finger at him. For the past two weeks he'd been dreaming about hearing those words, but he'd forced himself to push those dreams aside. It was too early for that kind of devotion, and he'd been pretty sure saying it would only scare Gabriel off. Hearing them now just hurt too much. 

"Sam - "

"No! For god's sake, Gabriel. You didn't think I'd want to know that my boyfriend is an angel?"

"I knew exactly why you'd want to know, and that's what I didn't want to tell you."

Sam froze. "You knew I was a hunter?"

"You _are_ a hunter," Gabriel corrected him. "C'mon, Sam. That's not something that ever goes away no matter how much you try to ignore it. Look, I knew what you were as soon as I saw you in that bar, okay? I was looking for someone interesting and I found you. All I wanted was a quick fuck, but then we came back here and..." He shrugged helplessly. "You were so damn cute and needy and sweet, and I just wanted to keep you. And I'm already in hot water because I ran away from heaven, so why not go the whole nine yards? Why not hook up with Lucifer's vessel? Why not keep you?"

"Lucifer's vessel?" Sam asked numbly.

Gabriel told him the truth then, about the demons and the Apocalypse and the angels and the archangels, and Sam punched him in the face. He didn't mean to. It was an instinctive reaction. He watched as Gabriel reeled backwards, and he wondered if Gabriel even felt the punch or if he was just pretending. Surely archangels didn't really feel pain. Maybe they didn't feel anything, not even love, just a sick sense of satisfaction over having gotten to and won a trophy first.

"Sam, wait -"

"Fuck you." Sam walked out of the apartment. It seemed like the kinder alternative to punching Gabriel again, which was kind of what he wanted to do. 

It made him feel sick to think that the only reason Gabriel had approached him in the first place was because of some misguided sibling rivalry. Something to lord over Lucifer when the world was falling apart. The relationship that Sam had actually been thinking about long term was nothing more than a stupid joke on Gabriel's part. It was the first time since leaving his dad and his brother behind that he wished he'd kept a gun or whatever weapon would do an angel some damage on hand.

He walked around for a while, deliberately doing his best to not think about anything, and ended up back at his dorm room just because he had nowhere else to go. He'd been spending so much time at Gabriel's apartment that the room usually felt cold and empty - he'd thought about giving it up at the end of the year if Gabriel was okay with moving in together, and thank god they'd never had that conversation because Sam really would've been screwed otherwise - even though it turned out that it wasn't. 

Brady was there. Sam stopped in the doorway and stared at him in surprise. He hadn't seen his roommate since the day he brought Gabriel back to the dorm for the first time, though he'd seen evidence since that indicated Brady had been there when Sam wasn't around. Brady looked past him, gazing expectantly at the hallway. When no one else appeared, Brady spoke.

"No boyfriend?"

"No," Sam said shortly, hoping that Brady wouldn't push the issue. As pissed off at Gabriel as he was, he wasn't in the mood to deal with any homophobia today.

“You guys have a fight?”

“You could call it that.” Sam walked over to his bed and squinted at the sheets. Was that a layer of dust? He wouldn't have been surprised if it was, since he couldn't remember the last time he'd actually slept here. Did he even have any clean sheets around?

“That’s too bad,” Brady said. 

Sensing someone right behind him, Sam started to turn around. He wasn’t expecting the blow to the back of his head. The pain was so bright, radiating down the back of his neck into his spine, and his knees folded without his permission. He fell onto the bed, bounced off and landed on the floor on his back. His head hit the ground and he saw stars, but not in the good way. It took every ounce of stubbornness he possessed to hold onto consciousness. He stared up at Brady.

“Has anyone ever told you that you don’t make good decisions, Sam?” Brady said conversationally, leaning over Sam. He was smiling. “You really should’ve stayed with the archangel. I’ve been waiting for months to get you in the right frame of mind. I thought he’d ruined our plans. We couldn’t do anything as long as he was around. Guess Azazel was right when he said we just needed to bide our time.” His eyes flicked to black.

Demon. Sam tried to throw a punch, but Brady knocked it aside embarrassingly easy and kicked him in the head. He didn’t pass out, but it was like reality swam away from him for a little while. He was vaguely aware of being picked up and tossed around like a bag of garbage. The world started to move under him, and that continued for a while. When it stopped, his hands and ankles were tied together so tightly that his fingers and toes went numb.

He drifted. 

“Sam. Sam, oh god. Sam?”

That was Jess’s voice. Sam forced himself out of the comforting darkness, blinking heavy eyes. His mouth felt funny, but he still managed to force out, “Jess?” 

“Sam! You’re alive. Thank god.” Jess sounded like she was crying. Sam turned his head very slowly to look at her. She was laying on the other side of the admittedly cramped room, tied up just like he was. Her right cheek was swollen and bruised and her face was streaked with tears.

“Are you okay?” he mumbled, giving his head a shake to try to force the dizziness away. Immediately, he flinched. Okay, yeah, that was a dumb idea.

“I’m fine… I think. I was heading to class when this guy stopped me on the street. He said he was lost and he wanted my help, so I showed him how to find the Economics building and he hit me. He knocked me out.” Her voice was getting a little higher. “I woke up here and you looked like you were _dead_. They said they were going to kill me!”

“Jess, calm down. It’s going to be okay,” Sam said, resting his throbbing head against the floor. He tested the bonds around his hands, disturbed to find that they were way too tight to have any give. And the rope was too thick to be snapped. He couldn’t twist enough to get to the bonds on his ankles either, and just trying made him so dizzy he had to swallow hard against the urge to throw up. He closed his eyes briefly. 

“Nothing about this is okay!” Jess hissed at him. “Sam! Do you know what’s going on?”

“No,” he said honestly, because he really didn’t. None of this made any sense, and it was so hard to open his eyes again when he just wanted to let the world fade away again. Only the realization that he’d be leaving Jess alone in the hands of demons kept him from doing just that. He couldn’t abandon her when she needed him.

He looked at her again. “Can you come closer to me?”

Jess shook her head. “I’m tied to the floor. So are you.”

He hadn’t noticed that before, but she was right. Sam gritted his teeth and tried to think past the pain. The knife he usually carried out of habit was gone, and so was his phone. He couldn’t get free, and he couldn’t get close enough to Jess to get her free either. Letting the demons kill them both was not an option, but short of waiting until they were untied and getting in a lucky shot (and that was provided the demons even bothered to untie them before killing them), he didn’t see what else he could do.

Unless…

Brady had said something about Gabriel. What was it? His head ached even more as he tried to remember. The last few minutes before he was knocked out were hazy, but it was something about not being able to do anything while Gabriel was there. That made sense. Demons and angels would be natural enemies, wouldn’t they? The bible said as much. So if he could figure out a way to contact Gabriel, maybe Gabriel would come save them. And Gabriel was an angel, which meant…

Sam knew enough about the supernatural to know that reality often differed completely from what people thought was true. The media was usually so wrong it was laughable. Maybe angels couldn’t even hear prayers – and even if they could, there was no guarantee Gabriel would be listening. But he had to try.

He closed his eyes and thought about Gabriel. No matter how angry he was that he’d been lied to, Sam still loved him. He loved the way Gabriel pouted in the morning when Sam’s alarm went off. He loved that Gabriel was just as passionate now as he was the first time they had sex. He loved coming home to Gabriel at night and seeing that beautiful smile when Sam walked into the room. He loved comforting Gabriel during his occasional bouts of melancholy; Gabriel always acted like a cuddle from Sam was all he could ask for during those moments. But most of all, he loved the way Gabriel made him feel: like maybe together, they were better people.

Every ounce of love and affection that Sam had been feeling from the moment a short, sarcastic little shit sat down next to him at the bar was poured into his plea. “Gabe, _please_. I need you.”

“Sam, who are you talking to?” Jess asked, clearly thinking he’d lost his mind. Sam didn’t answer her. He kept his eyes shut, trying to stay awake by focusing even more on Gabriel. His smell. His laugh. His taste. His hands. His hair. Even his nipples and cock. Everything that he cherished and wanted so badly to see again.

There was a high-pitched whistling outside the room. It slowly grew in intensity until it was unbearable. Sam cringed, trying to get his shoulders up high enough to cover his ears, but with the way he was tied he couldn’t. Just when he was sure he would go deaf, it stopped. In the sudden silence, he thought that maybe he had. But then the sound of Jess’s quiet sobs registered. 

The door was kicked down a moment later, and a familiar voice shouted, “Sammy?”

“Dean?” Sam breathed. His head was pounding so hard that he didn’t dare move, but it turned out he didn’t have to: Dean was in front of him suddenly, green eyes wide and worried. 

“Geez, Sammy, who the hell did you piss off?” he asked softly, putting a gentle hand on Sam’s head. 

“I don’t know,” Sam said, so grateful for his big brother’s presence that he could have cried like a toddler. He didn't have long to enjoy it, though. He tensed as someone else stepped into the room, an unfamiliar man with dark hair who wore a trenchcoat.

“It’s okay, Sammy. That’s Cas,” Dean said. “You talked to him on the phone.”

Cas. Castiel. It figured Dean would give a nickname to an angel he’d only known for like four days now. “Hi Cas.”

Castiel smiled at him. “Hello, Sam.” He knelt down and touched two fingers to Sam’s thigh. Instantly the ropes binding Sam fell to the ground, like they’d been cut with a sharp knife. Sam sat up, or tried to. The pain in his head got so bad he blacked out for a few seconds. 

When he opened his eyes again, the pain was gone and Dean’s arms were around him. In spite of everything that had happened, Sam felt safe. Dean had always been able to make him feel that way. He leaned into his brother, swallowing the lump in his throat. He’d missed Dean, but he hadn’t realized just how much until now. Dean squeezed him tighter and lifted his head.

“Hey Cas, you almost done?”

Sam hadn’t even noticed Castiel and Jess were gone until Castiel reappeared alone. “I am. I returned her to her room and removed her memories of this event. All she will know is that she fell asleep in her bed instead of going to class.”

“Is Jess okay?" Sam asked, worried.

“She’s fine. Turns out angel mojo is some pretty powerful stuff,” Dean said. “Think you can stand?”

“I think so.” It turned out that standing was no problem at all. Dean helped him, but he didn’t really need it. Sam kept expecting his body to hurt in some way, but he actually felt better now than he had in weeks. Dean wasn’t kidding about angel mojo, apparently.

“I believe Gabriel is finished. He’s requesting our presence,” Castiel said, cocking his head as though he was listening to something only he could hear.

“Gabriel?” Sam repeated.

“He heard your prayer even through the wards that were shielding your presence and led us here,” Castiel replied. His gaze was very, very intense. He stepped closer, setting two fingers against Sam’s forehead with one hand and – much to Sam’s surprise – cupping Dean’s face with the other. The world spun out of view, but jumped back just as quickly… Only now they were no longer in the little room.

“Hello, Sam,” Gabriel said quietly. He was holding a silver blade of some sort, which was pointed at the throat of a man with yellow eyes. The man bared his teeth and hissed when he saw Castiel, but his expression changed instantly when he saw Sam and Dean and he laughed. Gabriel’s jaw twitched and he moved the blade closer without turning his head, cutting lightly into the man’s throat.

"Gabe... What are you doing? What's going on? Who is that?" There were too many questions, and even though Sam was fully healed now his head was starting to hurt again.

"This is Azazel. He's a demon. One you're more familiar with than you know. He killed your mother," Gabriel said.

"What?" Dean exclaimed. Sam was too numb to speak. He stared at the demon, at the horrible yellow eyes, and flinched when Azazel leered at him.

Gabriel just nodded, not taking his eyes off of Sam. "It was all a plan to set Lucifer free and restart the Apocalypse. He had a demon pose as your roommate. That demon was supposed to make you fall in love and then kill your girlfriend in the same way as your mother. They wanted to encourage the darkness inside of you, Sam. They wanted to make you angry enough to succumb to Hell."

"You son of a bitch," Dean swore. Only Castiel's hand on his shoulder stopped him from taking a step forward.

"So all this time... Brady... and Jess..." Suddenly everything was making a terrible kind of sense. Why Brady had pushed him so hard to meet Jess in the first place. And then why Brady had turned and run at the sight of Gabriel. Sam had chalked it up to homophobia, but it was something a lot more sinister. Not to mention why they'd brought Jess here even Sam wasn't in love with her. She was like a sister to him. Seeing her die in the same way as his mother, not knowing why, would've definitely pushed him back on the road to being a hunter.

He'd come way too close to becoming exactly like his father, Sam realized with a sickening thud. Without Gabriel, he probably would have fallen for Jess. Who wouldn't? She was smart and sexy and vivacious, and losing her... there would be no coming back from that. He could imagine himself reaching out to Dean, throwing himself back into hunting, tracking down the Yellow-Eyed Demon no matter what it took. Just like John Winchester.

"Sammy," Gabriel called gently, and Sam forced himself to look up into the familiar golden eyes he'd come to love so much. 

"Gabe," he said, and his voice broke. It was all just too much.

"This isn't over!" Azazel snarled. "You can kill me if you want, archangel, but there will be others. We will free our beloved king!"

Gabriel's eyes hardened and he looked away from Sam for the first time. "Let him come. Sam is _mine_." He thrust the blade into Azazel's throat. Castiel's hand grabbed the back of Sam's neck, forcing his head down as a dazzling white light erupted around Azazel's body. It was so bright that even staring at the floor, it left Sam seeing spots.

Even before he could fully see again, there were hands on his shoulders. He recognized Gabriel's touch and brought his own arms up, hugging him hard. Tears stung his eyes. He was still so mad at Gabriel, but at the same time he needed Gabriel desperately. 

"Shh, kiddo, I'm right here," Gabriel murmured. He tipped Sam's chin up and looked at him for a moment before he leaned in and pressed a chaste kiss to Sam's mouth. "I'm sorry, Sam. I'm so sorry."

\-------

"I'm still pissed off at you," Sam said later that night. He was lying on his back in their bed - Gabriel's bed. Their bed. He put his hands over his face.

"I know."

"You should have told me."

"I know."

"Stop saying that you know!"

"What else do you want me to say?" Gabriel threw back. "Sam, you seem to think that I went into this with a plan. I didn't. Yes, I approached you because you were Lucifer's vessel and I knew it would piss Lucifer off if I slept with you first. It was just supposed to be a one night stand. I didn't know you'd be so... so... _you_. I didn't want you to go that night, so I asked you to stay. And you did. And no matter how many times I tried to ask you to leave after that, it never came out." 

Sam steeled himself. "I don't like knowing that the only reason you came up to me was because of that. I'm not some trophy to be fought over, Gabriel."

Gabriel dropped his gaze. "I know. I'm sorry. I love you," he said to the floor. "I know you don't believe me, but it's true. I didn't even know I could love anyone until I found you. I can't explain it. I don't understand it. I just know that it is. Please, Sam. I didn't stay with you because you're Lucifer's vessel. I don't care about that."

"So this whole thing wasn't a joke to you?" Sam asked carefully.

"No!" Gabriel exclaimed, sounding so horrified that it was hard not to believe him. "I would never joke about that, Sammy."

In spite of himself, Sam softened just a little. "But why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew you wanted nothing to do with the supernatural, and things don't get much more supernatural than me."

"You are pretty awesome," Sam said. Gabriel's head snapped up, his eyes widening. Looking at him, it was hard to stay mad. Especially when Gabriel had not only saved Jess's life and stopped the Apocalypse in its tracks, but had finally gotten vengeance for Mary Winchester. His mother could rest in peace now, and maybe - when John stopped hunting long enough to check his messages - his father would be able to, too.

"Does this mean you forgive me?" Gabriel asked hopefully.

Sam sighed. It still hurt knowing why Gabriel had come up to him in the first place. But, so long as Gabriel actually cared about him, he thought he'd be able to move past it. He decided to be honest. "I feel like I should be mad at you. I guess I'm more hurt than anything. But it's pretty hard to be mad when you just saved my life. And Dean's, by sending Cas to him. And Jess's. And pretty much everyone on Earth."

The smile on Gabriel's face disappeared. "It's not over, Sammy. The demons won't give up that easily, you know. They'll keep coming after you, and the angels will come after your brother."

"I guess Dean and I will have to stick pretty close together," said Sam. Dean was staying in the guest bedroom for the night. Curiously, Castiel had followed him into the room. Sam really didn't want to know why. He was almost positive that after a couple of weeks, Dean would want to get right back to hunting. They'd have to talk more tomorrow, but maybe this time around Sam could talk him into having a home base. He liked the thought of being the home that Dean could come back to - better still if Dean had an angel that could bring him back at any point, and that was looking increasingly likely.

"I guess," Gabriel said, carefully neutral.

"And I guess we'd be better off keeping an archangel around who can chase those demons and angels away."

"Is that all you want me for?"

"No, you idiot," Sam said, finally giving in to the impulse to open his arms. Gabriel was across the room in a blink, wrapped around him like an octopus. Not that Sam minded. He hugged Gabriel back tightly and let himself whisper the words that had been building up for weeks now. "It's because I love you."

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on [tumblr](http://tsuki-chibi.tumblr.com/).


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